Biden Blocks Sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel | Hacker News Reader

Biden Blocks Sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel

wsj.com

23 pointsimpish920813 comments

Gift link: https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/biden-blocks-sale-of-u-s-...

Looks like it's done for. Am curious whether the mentioned layoffs may actually happen or whether U.S. Steel is just bluffing.

Incoming admin said they'd do the same unfortunately [1] [2]. Bad policy, is what it is. Likely leads to some sort of M&A with Cleveland-Cliffs [3]. Steel demand is likely to remain subdued for the foreseeable future [4] due to China's deflationary macro and US Fed target rate remaining elevated, so policy is really just managing stagnation or decline at this time (and the ~14k jobs at risk, ~11k of which are United Steel Workers union members).

[1] https://apnews.com/article/us-steel-nippon-trump-biden-steel...

[2] https://archive.today/xaKEP

[3] https://www.clevelandcliffs.com/news/news-releases/detail/63...

[4] https://www.fitchratings.com/research/corporate-finance/glob...

Thank you Comrade Bidenov?

How can you MAGA without domestic production?

Japan is an ally, and US Steel would still produce domestically. In the event of extraordinary circumstances (supply chain mobilization for war time effort), the US government has policy tools to protect and control this supply chain already operational on US soil. Factories and skilled workers are all that is needed, everything else (corp structure, capital primitives) is flexible depending on circumstances and who shows up with force.

If the argument is surge capacity or readiness capability, that requires a more active policy effort around this part of the domestic supply chain (US gov paying to be ready to scale up, having a controlling interest of some sort to direct operations if needed, etc).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Production_Act_of_1950

https://som.yale.edu/blog/usage-of-the-defense-production-ac...

https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/story/Article/2...

Oh yes, they said they will be cool. If they shut it down, it’s gone. Fix the problem rather than selling it if it’s critical to your defence.

> Fix the problem rather than selling it if it’s critical to your defence.

My kingdom for people in leadership positions who actually give a damn with will to execute. Alas, it appears not on the menu.

My original comment was a bit in jest. However, thinking about it, don’t make the same mistake as we did in Europe. You need heavy industry if you want to remain competitive. Not just the presence of it, you have to own it even if you sink money.

Absolutely agree.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-03/nippon-re... | https://archive.today/lmrJL ("Bloomberg: Nippon Rejection Shows National Security Means Whatever You Want")

This isn't a partizan issue despite your comment being a poor attempt at humor.

Even Trump has repeatedly said he would block this deal -- https://apnews.com/article/us-steel-nippon-trump-biden-steel...

I understand it’s a bipartisan thing. But it doesn’t have to be an Biden is going along with it. I think Biden has been a good president. I just don’t like this decision.

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